REGULATIVE RUIN

About the project

This story was produced by The Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit, independent newsroom in the Bay Area, in partnership with the San Francisco Chronicle and KQED. Reporter Amy Julia Harris can be reached at aharris@cironline.org.

This story was edited by Andrew Donohue and Mark Katches. It was copy edited by Nikki Frick and Christine Lee.

A elderly resident peeks out her front door after hearing some yelling in the courtyard, Thursday October 10, 2013, at the Hacienda Public Housing Complex, in Richmond, Calif.

Richmond housing funds mismanaged as decay increased

Story by Amy Julia HarrisThe Center for Investigative Reporting

Photos by Lacy AtkinsSan Francisco Chronicle

Richmond's public housing agency has been racked by years of mismanagement, financial abuse and conflicts of interest. The Richmond Housing Authority is running a nearly $7 million deficit and has to repay $2.2 million for past contracting mistakes. The federal government is threatening to take control of the Housing Authority this year if key financial benchmarks are not met.

As its finances spiraled out of control and residents’ basic needs went ignored, the authority spent lavishly, the Center for Investigative Reporting has found.

Attention has focused on agency Executive Director Tim Jones, who has been on the job for nine years. Bill Lindsay, Richmond’s city manager, has asked HUD to give Jones a chance to turn the authority around.

“He inherited some terrible staff that he can’t unload,” he said. “He took something that was in dismal shape, and he made cuts and stopped this place from really heading for financial disaster.”

But documents show how the financial problems and mismanagement have festered on Jones’ watch.

“The current executive director has been there approximately six years, but few improvements have been made,” according to a June 2012 HUD memo. “The financial condition of the authority has gotten worse by the year.”

John Oliver,76, a resident at Nevin Plaza Public Housing for 10 years watches Richmond Housing Authority Executive Director Tim Jones as he tries to explains issues to the Housing Advisory Commission meeting, Tuesday October 22, 2013, in Richmond, Calif. The Richmond Housing Authority brought Tim Jones in as executive director in 2005 to fix the broken agency. It now has spiraled into financial chaos and is now almost $7 million in debt.

In trouble before

When Jones arrived from the Oakland Housing Authority in 2005, the Richmond agency was already in trouble. The previous executive director lacked basic skills, its files were in shambles and staff couldn’t carry out rudimentary bookkeeping, documents show.

Jones said the authority has cut its staff significantly, has a plan to get out of debt and is working closely with HUD to make fixes.

“When I arrived, we had a staff of 65,” Jones said. “Now there’s a staff of about 28. We are lean here. There is no fat.”

Jones did not respond to numerous requests for follow-up interviews once the extent of the authority’s financial abuses became clear.

Contracts to brother

Some of those abuses involve Manuel Rosario, Jones’ No. 2 official at the agency. In 2008 and 2009, he steered $61,000 in contracts to his brother, HUD’s inspector general found.

Rosario, HUD documents say, later arranged for his brother to get more Housing Authority work. Jones was supposed to sign off on the documents, but he hadn’t done so.

HUD wanted Rosario banned from working with the federal government in 2009. Jones wouldn’t say whether he fired Rosario, but the agency did pay for his retirement pizza party with taxpayer funds, records show.

City policies prohibit spending public money on these kinds of events. It’s unclear from the records how much the party cost.

Rosario could not be reached for comment.

Jeff Likely, resident manager of the Nevin Plaza Public Housing sweeps the front sidewalk in preparation of the Housing Authority monthly meeting, Monday October 21, 2013, in Richmond, Calif.

Leroy Williams, 60 years old, walks from his apartment at Nevin Plaza to the Doctors Medical Center to have his lungs x-rayed, Tuesday October 22, 2013, in San Pablo, Calif. Williams has been having problems breathing since he's been living at the Nevin Plaza where his ceilings are asbestos.

Preacher Eddie Williams, 62, leads the residents of Nevin Plaza public housing in prayer at afternoon church service, Wednesday October 2, 2013 in Richmond, Calif. Eddie holds church three days a week at the Plaza.

Nathaniel Paris, 3, waits for his grandfather, Kelvin Roberson as he packs up his belonging after being evicted from the HaciendaPublic Housing Complex, Wednesday October 9, 2013, in Richmond, Calif.

Leroy Williams, 60 years old, gets his chest x-rayed, at the Doctors Medical Center, Tuesday October 22, 2013, in San Pablo, Calif. Williams has been having problems breathing since he's been living at the Nevin Plaza where his ceilings are asbestos.

Tammy Hill points out a message that was written on the wall in the hallway, Tuesday October 8, 2013, at the Hacienda Public Housing Complex in Richmond, Calif.

Steven Muccular rides his bike to visit his family at the Hacienda Public Housing Complex, Monday October 7, 2013, in Richmond, Calif.

Richmond Housing Authority Executive Director Tim Jones looks over the new housing report with Jackie Thompson, President of the Friendship Manor Residential Council before the Richmond City Council meeting, THursday October 17, 2013, in Richmond, Calif.

Gail Brown listens to preacher Eddie Williams as she holds her grandson Jaylin Gardner, 3, during the afternoon church service, Tuesday, October 22, 2013 in Richmond, Calif

Helen Hall, 81, right, recites the pledge of allegiance at the Richmond City Council Meeting before addressing the council about the living conditions at Nevin Plaza Public Housing, Thursday, October 17, 2013, in Richmond, Calif.

Jeff Likely, resident manager of the Nevin Plaza Public Housing cleans the windows to the front door in preparation of the Housing Authority monthly meeting, Monday October 21, 2013, in Richmond, Calif.

“I see barren hallways / Broken cameras / Uninvited guests / There’s no service here / As if a sea of people were cast away on an island to fend for themselves’

So begins the first verse of the latest example of sourced storytelling for the Off/Page Project. The project is a collabortaion between The Center for Investigative Reporting and Youth Speaks, the leading nonprofit presenter of spoken word performance, education and youth development programs in the country.

In conjunction with CIR’s new investigation – produced in partnership with the San Francisco Chronicle and KQED – about the failures of Richmond, Calif.’s public housing agency, Off/Page recruited three poets from a local nonprofit to work with CIR reporter Amy Julia Harris.

Watch Off/Page’s new video, “This is Home,’ which weaves the narratives of the (link) investigation with the poets’ experiences growing up in Richmond.

Contract misspending

The agency’s financial problems run much deeper than pizza parties. In 2009, a federal investigation found that the Housing Authority had misspent $2.4 million on contracts over the previous decade. While some of that activity occurred under the previous leadership, the report uncovered a host of misdeeds by the new management team.

The authority messed up its competitive bidding process for contracts, and it approved payments to contractors without proof that the work had been completed. In 2012, seven out of 25 Housing Authority payments reviewed by auditors didn’t have documents that backed up the work that was done.

Jones blamed the previous administration for the breakdown in contracts. “We’re trying to find a way to fix it,” he said.

The Housing Authority is in the process of repaying $2.2 million for its contracting mistakes. It made its first payment in July. The agency told HUD that the payments would “severely undermine the Housing Authority’s fiscal stability.”

Some questions center on Jones himself. On a trip to New York in November 2009, HUD documents show, Jones got the authority to pay for a $417 meal at Fabio Piccolo Fiore, a high-end Italian restaurant. In Washington, he had taxpayers fund $130 and $279 meals at an upscale soul-food restaurant called Georgia Brown’s in 2008 and 2010. HUD found the charges to be excessive.

He also appears to have billed taxpayers a $40 stipend each day he traveled, records show. City officials are supposed limit their meals to the per-diem costs, rather than charging additional meals.

Jones also charged taxpayers for meals closer to home. He took his staff to the Italian restaurant Salute E Vita, which overlooks the Richmond marina, three times in three weeks, racking up tabs as high as $195.

Bridgette Monique Rollins tries to explain to Richmond Police Officer Ojo that she didn't want any trouble, but that she just wanted her Supplement Security Income check, Friday November 1, 2013, outside of Nevin Plaza Public Housing Complex in Richmond, Calif. She was evicted last month and believed management had kept her check when the locks were changed.

Oversight lacking

Jones approved all his own credit-card charges with no outside oversight. He declined to comment on the matter.

One of the few people who could have spotted the abuse was the finance manager. But he also was abusing his credit card, documents show.

Tony Taplin, the Housing Authority’s finance manager, used the card to fix his car, fill it with gas and buy personal meals. The city said all unauthorized purchases were eventually repaid.

Taplin didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The Housing Authority also catered its Board of Commissioners meetings, which consist of the City Council and advisory commission members. One catering bill in 2008 came to $2,142.

City officials have since canceled the agency credit cards.

As the finances worsened, Jones’ salary kept rising. The city’s community and economic development director gave Jones a total of 31 percent in raises from 2008 to 2011, at a time when the agency didn’t have enough money to make payroll, HUD auditors found.

In 2010, the year after HUD first labeled the Housing Authority one of the worst in the country, Jones made $205,000 in salary and benefits. His pay was in the top third for heads of housing agencies in California, according to a HUD survey.

His pay since has dropped as the Housing Authority’s budget has gone down. In 2012, he made almost $187,000 a year in salary and benefits.

Jones would not answer questions about his pay or his expenses, but he said the agency’s finances are getting better.

“Our mission is our mission,” he said. “It can be done as long as we’re trending north.”

There is only one other housing authority in California that HUD classifies as troubled: San Francisco’s. After it landed on the problem list, Mayor Ed Lee cleaned house. He replaced most of the members of the Housing Authority board and hired a new executive director.

There has been no such change in Richmond.

The City Council occupies seven of the nine seats on the agency’s board. Last year, a HUD document said the Board of Commissioners does not appear “to have sufficient knowledge of Housing Authority operations, programs, financial condition, or activities, and as a result, (has) not provided proper oversight of the executive director.”

Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, who serves as board chairwoman, said she was not aware of the financial abuses at the agency or Jones’ pay increases.

She said once Richmond completes the sale of one of its buildings, it will be debt-free and off HUD’s troubled list. She also pointed the finger at HUD for cutting public housing budgets.

“HUD needs to realize that the federal government is being negligent in its responsibility to provide public housing funds for cities that have experienced decades of economic injustices,” the mayor said.